Twenty years ago, Sub Pop released Frigid Stars, the debut LP of stark, sad, savagely-stripped-down, confrontationally slow songs from New Yorker trio Codeine. The album effectively founded the slowcore movement, and became a classic '90s record for those who like their music incredibly depressing.
Proving that alt-rock reformation mania isn't just for, like, Matador bands, Codeine are getting the original crew together. The original line-up —bassist/vocalist Stephen Immerwahr, guitarist John Engle, drummer Chris Brokaw— will be hitting stages in 2012; the first Codeine shows since 1994, and the first gigs with the original line-up since 1992.
The band have lined up two notable shows thus far: at the Mogwai-curated All Tomorrow's Parties festival in May, and at Primavera's twin festivals in Barcelona and Porto.
The shows will coincide with a thorough —and no doubt lavish— series of reissues by the Numero Group. Each of Codeine's three records —Frigid Stars, 1992's Barely Real EP, and 1994's The White Birch— will be released as deluxe double-vinyl reissues; boasting b-sides, compilation tracks, Peel sessions and the like. There'll also be a limited-run 6LP box-set called When I See the Sun, which houses the whole magilla inside one box.
"Our hope," writes Brokaw, "is to make our music and legacy available to all who are interested."
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